Ring of Honor TV Report
September 14, 2009
Taped August 14 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Report by Mike DeRosenroll, Torch ROH specialist

In the studio, Mike Hogwood and Dave Prazak announced the Bryan Danielson has signed a contract with WWE. They praised his contributions to ROH and plugged his final live ROH appearances.

1 – THE DARK CITY FIGHT CLUB (KORY CHAVIS & JON DAVIS) vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (MATT JACKSON & NICK JACKSON)

The announcers described this match-up as a battle of the DCFC's size and power versus the Young Bucks's speed and high-flying. The Bucks offered to shake hands but the DCFC refused, establishing the Bucks as the babyfaces.

Davis started the match against Nick Jackson and took control of the match with his power. At 2:00, with Chavis now in the ring for the DCFC, the Bucks gained the advantage when Nick tagged out to Matt and Matt landed a moonsault off the top rope. Chavis quickly regained control with a double clothesline that flattened both Young Bucks. The DCFC beat down Matt Jackson heel-style for a while, drawing a loud "Young Bucks" chant from the crowd.

At 5:30, Matt made a babyface comeback, dropped Davis with a great-looking chin breaker and then made the hot tag to Nick. At 6:00, the Bucks hit Davis with a devastating-looking springboard splash-moonsault combo for a near fall that Davis only kicked out of because Chavis broke up the pin. The action picked-up, with all four men involved, leading to the finish when Nick caught Chavis with a sunset flip off the top rope into a bridge pin.

WINNERS: The Young Bucks clean in 7:30. Solid tag match. The DCFC got the vast majority of the offence to keep the strong despite losing, which unfortunately limited the opportunity to showcase the Young Bucks's dazzling array of offensive maneuvers. The announcers played up the result as a big upset.

A UFC-style video package aired hyping the main event between the Briscoe Brothers and Kevin Steen and El Generico. The package interspersed highlights of Steen and Generico with clips from a sit down interview with the Briscoes. They gave Steen and Generico some lukewarm praise, but asserted that they, the Briscoes, were the better team.

Back in the ring, Prince Nana was already in the ring, with "Dirty" Ernie Osiris, cutting a promo on and Sal Rinauro, who was also in the ring. Nana said he felt sorry for Rinauro and introduced his opponent, Bison Smith of The Embassy.

2 – BISON SMITH (w/Prince Nana & Dirty Ernie Osiris) vs. SAL RINAURO

Prazak said that Smith has torn up Puerto Rico and Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan. Smith tossed Rinaruo around with some power moves and could have easily pinned him at 0:30, but pulled him up after a two count to deliver more punishment. Smith threw Rinauro out of the ring and beat him up on the outside for a while, including a dive over the ringside barrier while Rinauro was in the front row of seats. Smith then tossed Rinauro back in the ring and pinned him easily.

WINNER: Smith clean in 2:00. Good squash to make Smith look like a monster.

After the match, Prince Nana got back in the ring and introduced his next hired gun, Joey Ryan. Joey Ryan's gimmick seems very similar to Austin Aries's. Nana issued an open challenge to anybody who thought they could take Ryan, and Colt Cabana answered the challenge.

3 - COLT "BOOM BOOM" CABANA vs. JOEY RYAN (w/Prince Nana & Dirty Ernie Osiris)

Cabana hit the ring on fire and sent Ryan to the floor. Ryan conferred with Nana, then got back into the ring only to have Cabana deploy his trademark European-influenced chain wrestling to wrestle circles around Ryan. At 2:30, Nana distracted Cabana, allowing Ryan to land a drop kick to take control of the make. Ryan spent the next couple of minutes working over Cabana's arm. While Cabana was selling Ryan's offense, Hogwood did a nice job talking up Cabana for the way he fought back from a three-to-one disadvantage to win the eight-man elimination match against The Embassy a couple of weeks ago. Ryan set up Cabana for his moustache ride finisher, only for Cabana to slip out of the move and quickly lock in his Billy Goat's curse submission hold, forcing Ryan to tap out.

WINNER: Cabana clean in 6:30. Solid match to continue Cabana's strong push lately. Unfortunately, Cabana's Billy Goat's curse submission looks like it would be easy to escape, which is not ideal for a finisher. Having Ryan lose clean on his debut does not suggest ROH has big plans for him. This may be for the best until either he or Austin Aries change their gimmick, because I do not think there is room in ROH for two sleazy, pink-wearing, moustached heels.

After the match, a dazed Sal Rinauro, selling his beating at the hands of Bison Smith, staggered into the ring behind Cabana only to be flattened by Cabana when he turned around. Prazak observed that Rinauro is always in the wrong place at the wrong time, which seems to be his new gimmick.

Another UFC-style video package aired, this one with highlights of the Briscoes interspersed clips from a sit down interview with Steen and Generico. Steen did all the talking. This segment did a nice job explaining the long-term rivalry between the two teams.

Heading into the commercial break, Hogwood hyped the main event between the Briscoes and Steen and Generico.

[Commercial Break]

A video package recapped the finish of last week's main event, where Nigel McGuinness distracted Tyler Black to cost him the match against Jerry Lynn. Hogwood promised an interview with Black next week.

Backstage, Prince Nana cut a promo on Cabana for ruining The Embassy's "special" night. Hogwood noted that, next week, The Embassy's Jimmy Rave will face the Necro Butcher.

Out in the arena, the camera found Nigel McGuinness sitting in the front row. He said that he could not understand why the wrestlers care so much about pleasing the fans. After 15 months as ROH World Champion, he said that he does not care anymore. He ran down the fans and said that he blames them for the physical wreck he became by the end of his title reign. He said that he was considering not getting in the ring anymore, because of the risk of injury, but he decided to keep getting in the ring so he can hurt his opponents more than they hurt him. This was very good promo.

Hogwood and Prazak announced that, next week, Austin Aries will hold a lottery where the winner will get a title shot against him.

Backstage, Aries cut about next week's lucky lottery. There was goofy interlude where he tried on different silly hats that he might draw the name out of, but he saved the promo at the end by turning serious and talking about what a chance of a lifetime his lucky lottery would be for someone next week.

Hogwood and Prazak announced that, as part of Bryan Danielson's Final Countdown Tour, next week main event will be a six man tag match with Danielson, KENTA, and Roderick Strong taking on Chris Hero and the American Wolves.

A video package reviewed last week's post-match confrontation between the Briscoes, Steen and Generico and the American Wolves.

4 – THE BRISCOE BROTHERS (JAY & MARK) vs. KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO

Both teams got excellent crowd reactions. The crowd seemed more into this match than any ROH match I have seen on HDNet. This may be because the HDNet production crew has significantly improved the lighting and sound.

The match started with a couple of minutes of fast-paced back-and-forth action with lots of tags. The Briscoes took the first advantage at 2:30, but quickly lost the advantage when Mark could not get Steen up for a suplex and Steen reversed the move into a suplex of his own at 3:00. This set the tone for the match, as the two teams began trading the advantage back-and-forth. Each team got lots of double teams and trademark offence, while the pace stayed quick and the action stayed hard-hitting.

At 7:00, the match entered a new phase when Generico and Mark simultaneously dove to the outside onto Jay and Steen respectively. This took Jay and Steen out of the action for a little while. Meanwhile, Generico and Mark got back in the ring and started beating each other senseless. Both ended up flat on their backs being counted down by the referee, but both managed to beat the count and tag out to their partners at 8:30. Now it was Jay and Steen's turn to beat each other up.

Generico and Mark eventually recovered and got back involved. The Briscoes took the advantage at 10:30 when Jay hit Steen with a devastating Death Valley driver on the ring apron. This took Steen out of the action for a while, allowing the Briscoes to double team Generico. At 11:30, Steen recovered and interrupted a springboard doomsday device attempt by the Briscoes and neutralized Mark outside the ring, giving Steen and Generico a chance to double team Jay. Just as Steen and Generico were setting Jay up for their finisher, the American Wolves hit the ring and attacked Steen and Generico, causing the referee to throw the match out.

RESULT: No contest at 12:00. The action in this match was excellent from start to finish, and the fast pace was reminiscent of Dragon Gate-style wrestling. If it had not been for the lack of a finish, this match was on track to be at the same level as the excellent tag matches featured on last week's Dragon Gate pay-per-view.

After the match, the American Wolves beat down Steen and Generico until the Briscoes recovered enough to get involved and join with Steen and Generico in running off the tag team champions.

Steen grabbed the microphone and noted that he and Generico had recently beaten the American Wolves to earn a title shot whenever they want, with whatever stipulation they want. He announced that they would be cashing in their title shot in New York City on September 26th and that the stipulation would be Ladder War II. Prazak flipped out and said that the original Ladder War was one of the most brutal matches in ROH history. Good closing hype for the upcoming show in New York City.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for an "ROH TV Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. To contribute your thoughts on ROH, email to pwtorch@gmail.com using our Feedback form.

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